REVIEW: Sokobos on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

Sokobos is based on the classic Japanese brain-twisting puzzle game of Sokoban, which I am sure all puzzle fans have heard of or played a variation of.

The basic idea of Sokoban is to push crates or boxes around, and into the final spots, the hard part being the limited amount of space you have to work in.

Sokobos takes on this format with a story inspired by ancient Greek tragedies, and as a Greek I am always happy to see anything that uses my culture for inspiration.

First the story
"Aeschylus took an oath to the Greek gods. He is granted inhuman strength and is tasked with building a temple worthy of the great Zeus, however he must do this by himself. If he succeeds, his father's town will prosper and outshine even Athens. However, Sokobos' story is a Greek tragedy, not everything will go according to the plan."

Instead of crates or boxes, you are instead trying to assemble Greek structures, think statues, pillars, even temples. You push each part into a set position, and when complete you finish the level and move onto the next. As you progress the levels get harder, you might need to build a bridge first, or activate gates, you might even need to paint pieces by moving them through coloured spots.

The game is pretty tough, but luckily you can easily walk back moves, so you don't need to totally restart a level if you get stuck. There are leader boards which show who can complete a level in the least amount of moves, as well as a colourblind mode with Trichromatic, Dichromatic and Monochromatic options.

There are 60 levels to beat.

The game starts off pretty straight forward, but here is a huge problem, the game gets very hard, very quick, now there is a skip level option, but I found that by level 5 which I got stuck on, I was already using the skip button. By level 10 I realised that this game is way harder than it should be.

I enjoy puzzle games, and I have played Sokoban games before, but never have I found myself stumped so early in the game, and this is a huge problem, especially if you are trying to attract new players to the genre.

The Good

I like the story, and some of the original gameplay elements to what is an old genre of game. The "undo" button is a welcome addition.

The Bad

Impossibly hard. Unless you are a Sokoban addict, then this game will frustrate you within 10 minutes of playing.

Overall

By having such an incredibly steep learning curve, this will instantly put off new players, who will either give up, or just go to YouTube and find solutions, which then makes the game rather pointless.

If you are a hardcore Sokoban addict, or someone who thrives on ridiculously hard puzzle games, then this if for you.

For everyone else however, you might want to think twice before purchasing.

I score Sokobos on PC a 6/10.

Out now on PC Steam

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1655890/Sokobos/

REVIEW: Radon Break on PC (Steam)

Review by GamingCouchPotato.co.uk Staff

Radon Break or is that Radon Blast? It seems that the developers of this game can't seem to make their minds up on the name of the game, all the promotional material sent out says Radon Blast, but then start the game and it is Radon Break. Not a good start.

Radon Break is a game that is clearly modelled after the famous Arkanoid brick breaking game. Control a paddle, ball falls, bounce it on to bricks, bricks disappear, destroy all the bricks, level finished.

There are your usual power ups, speed, clone the ball, and extend the size of the paddle. There are also gun powers, a wall and a super ball that just destroys.

40 levels. Beat them all, try and get the best high score.

The only real difference this game has is that your paddle operates from the left in an up and down motion, as opposed to the classic left and right movement on the bottom of the screen. Despite claiming to have 3D graphics, it is definitely 2D. The levels are all pretty basic and bland looking.

The Good

It is an Arkanoid clone, and who doesn't love Arkanoid.

The Bad

It is unoriginal, brings nothing new at all to the genre. And it costs £4. 

Overall

Vastly overpriced when you consider you can get free browser-based games that are virtually identical.

This is a lazy game, that although plays fine, is simply no better than free alternatives.

I score Radon Break a poor 3/10

Out now on Steam

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1936190/Radon_Break/

PREVIEW: Turbo Golf Racing on PC (Steam)

Preview by Jon Donnis

I was asked to join the Beta playtest of Turbo Golf Racing on PC and give my thoughts. Although the game is still in Beta testing, it is very polished.

Now I am sure you have heard of Rocket League, the game where you basically play football with cars and a giant ball. Well Turbo Golf Racing is that but with golf. The comparisons are inevitable, and Turbo Golf Racing has a lot to live up to if it wants to be spoken about in the same breath as that other game. (which I wont mention again).

For people new to the genre, take the quiet, thoughtful, slow game of golf, add a massive ball, and Turbo Powered cars and you have something very interesting and a lot of fun.

Single player mode plays very much like you would expect. Drive as fast as you can at the ball, to hit it to go as far as you can in the direction of the hole. But unlike in golf where each shot takes time to set up, aim etc, here once you have teed off you can chase after the ball, hit it again while it is still moving, all in a mad cap race to sink the ball as quickly as possible.

Time is the issue here, not how many times you hit the ball. Your car has the ability to jump and then dash, slide, drift, boost etc you can control the rotation of your car in the air, you can even glide if you want. When hitting the ball, how you position your car matters, if you hit it while you jump you can get more lift on the ball and so on. As you approach the ball, you will see a directional arrow telling you roughly where the ball will go, which will help you aim the next hit, there are sand pits to avoid, rough grass, and so on.

Your car has a turbo too, which you use in bursts to get more speed, you can collect turbo upgrades to fill your meter, as well as driving on certain areas will recharge your turbo. Watch out also for floating circular boost points, fire your ball through them and it will fly high and fast towards the hole.

Finish the level in a set amount of time to get up to 3 stars, gaining stars unlocks more levels.

The single player mode is fun, and a great way to get to grips with the controls and the courses, but the fun really starts in multiplayer mode.

Up to 8 players can play online at once, each player has their own ball, and you all need to get your ball in the hole the fastest, you are given points depending on your time. Now although you can't hit other people's balls, or ram other players, you can collect rockets and fire them at the enemy. But you will probably be concentrating on your own ball to spend much time doing that, you will most likely pick up a rocket and fire it blindly as you try not to lose your ball.

The courses available so far are all decent, if a bit samey. You will get a zoomed in map of the course as well as a flyover before each race, but a full map would make things easier, so you know where to go, some of the courses are quite long, and although you won't get lost, figuring out where the hole is, can be confusing on a first playthrough. Of course, a relaxing drive around the course to familiarise yourself first is probably worth doing. There are also secret routes to look out for which will help you massively in both single player and multiplayer modes.

You will be able to upgrade our car as you go along, collect in game currency by winning trophies. Each upgrade will improve your car allowing you to hit the ball further, fly fast, and so on. Lots of car customisation available, to give your car its own unique look.

The Good

The game looks and feels very polished, I found no bugs during my time playing. It looks like the game will be regularly updated, with new courses and options. So, there is a long future to this game, as opposed to a limited one.

The Bad

I'd like some better animations when you fly off the track, maybe the car gets destroyed when it hits something etc. Otherwise, the game already feels really good.

Overall

At this point the game is already pretty damned decent, and I have high hopes that it can and will only get better as more content is released for it.

I look forward to the full release, and future updates, when the game is finished, I will give it a score. For now, if you can, try to get on the Beta playtest, you won't be disappointed.

Wishlist it on Steam at

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1324350/Turbo_Golf_Racing/

REVIEW: Sherlock Holmes Chapter One on Xbox

Review by Jon Donnis

Sherlock Holmes Chapter One is an open-world detective mystery with you playing a young Sherlock Holmes.

You find yourself returning to your childhood home of Cordona, a 19th century, British occupied Mediterranean island, that I assume is made up. You return there as you learn that they may be more to the death of your mother, than originally thought.

Since you are playing a young Sherlock, you have to accept that the game developers have to try something different, so Sherlock is a fresh faced, slightly brooding type character, and Sherlock even has an imaginary friend type deal, with a person called Jon, a pre-cursor to Watson I would assume. Seems strange that a man of logic would need an imaginary friend to throw ideas at, but like I said, this is a young Sherlock, so I suppose this could be akin to the older Sherlock having a mind palace.

The main idea of the game is to solve crimes, and if you want, get into slightly pointless fights, all of which can be skipped if you want. However, the fights, if poorly implemented, do help break up the gameplay. While fighting someone you can use your observation skills to help you win the fight, see vulnerabilities, use the surroundings to help you win. It is a nice change to the usual punch, punch, kick, kick style of fightings we sometimes get in open world games.

The graphics are amazing, and straight away you will be reminded of some of the Assassin's Creed games, sadly the freedom of those games is not available here, and although the game is "open world", you simply cant interact with as much as you might want to. You will however get the expected side quests, (30+), which are always a fun distraction from a main story of which there are 5 main parts.

There are lots of people to talk to, stories to learn, and locations to explore. And there is plenty of variety in these, that means that things are never too reptitive in nature.

We do need to talk about a few of the problems with the game, the investigations themselves, it almost seems like you cant really get anything very wrong, there is no real confirmation that you have made a right conclusion, in your case files, you have the documents and recaps, and a nudge in the right direction, but it does seem to be a strange way of doing things in what is a detective game, that you don't properly make wrong decisions.

And as already mentioned the fight scenes are poorly implemented, they feel like an afterthought, and although they do break up the action, the fact you can completely turn them off, and skip them, kinda makes them a bit pointless in the game.

The dialog is good, the story is also well written, the side quests are fun, and help give the game some longevity, as if you stick to the main story, the game can be completed pretty quickly. There are hidden coins to collect, which also add an extra element to the game.

The Good

The graphics and general presentation of the game is of an exceptional standard, really is glorious to see.

The Bad

The fights with bandits are terrible and pointless, and the game pales in comparison to similar open world games with investigative gameplay mechanics, think Batman or any Assassins Creed game.

Overall

A decent game in it's own right, but does have a few problems that game testers should have spotted early on.

The sheer beauty of the game, and the decent storyline carries it further than it should.

I score Sherlock Holmes Chapter One on Xbox a generous 7/10

Out now on Xbox

REVIEW: Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles on Xbox

Review by Jon Donnis

Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles is a 3D puzzle platformer from Luminawesome Games and published by the great people at Wired Productions.

Now I am a fan of puzzle platform games, so I was excited to try this game out.

You play as Lumote, a kind of bioluminescent blob character, and you find yourself on a quest to overthrow the Mastermote.

You can move your character, jump (and double jump), and possess. As you start the game you find yourself in an area, the red areas are controlled by the evil Mastermote, (is he/it evil? I don't know, but for the sake of this review I am calling him/it evil!) and the blue areas are controlled by you, to progress to the next area, you need to turn everything blue, and unlock the door (a big flower thing).

You can possess Motes (creatures that inhabit this weird world), which will help to allow you to turn areas blue, when you are in control of them, they help you, when you are not in control of them, they can hinder your progress.

The game is one big area, with six towers that need to be taken over, and fifty puzzles that need to be solved along the way.

Right from the start you are thrown into the action, there is little to tell you what to do, or even where to go, you need to figure things out for yourself, as you first start exploring, you will get on screen prompts of how to control your character as well as the interactive areas, but that is it.

Despite the lack of a level select, or much instruction, the game is pretty easy to figure out, and before you know it you will be solving some pretty complicated puzzles. For example, you might need to control Motes to position in a different area to change things to blue, but the Motes are hidden behind hard to reach areas, or you need to position multiple motes in a certain order, to reach another Mote that is needed to progress. Various obstacles will make your journey trickier, and all need to be overcome using good old-fashioned logic.

There is a steep learning curve here, there is no easy first 10 puzzles, pretty much from the get go you need to get your thinking cap on.

You can control the camera in a fully 3D manner, from side, around and above viewpoints, this does help you figure out what you need to do, and although sometimes you might prefer a fixed camera, I didn't find the 3D camera too much of a bother. It also helps you to have a good look around for any secret collectables.

Solve all the Puzzles, takeover the 6 towers, turn the world blue, and extinguish the red light of the Master Mote to complete the game. Sounds easy, but is much harder in reality.

The Good

Super colourful game, perhaps a bit too colourful, but that is part of the story of the game. The puzzles are tricky but all solvable with a bit of thinking.

A good challenge awaits anyone who wants to take on the Mastermote.

The Bad

The camera can be a bit of an annoyance at times, when you have to keep re-positioning it to see what you need to do next, I do wonder if a fixed AI controlled camera view that moved as you do, to show you the best view would have been a better choice? 

And yes, the puzzles get tricky, pretty fast, so if you are a Gamerpoint collector, those achievements are going to take some hard work. No easy 1000 points here!

Overall

Lumote is a proper challenging 3D puzzle platforming game. The challenge betrays it's fun graphics.
I really enjoyed playing Lumote, and am still playing it. Tough but fun game that I can highly recommend for any Puzzle fans wanting a new challenge.

I score Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles a solid 8/10

Out now on Xbox

https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/lumote-the-mastermote-chronicles/9mzv9h5hpcq1